Caravan girl crushed to death as 80mph gales batter Britain

A teenage girl was killed when a huge tree was blown over in an 80mph gale and crashed down on a caravan.

Rebecca Smith, 18, was one of four people to die as storms battered the country.

Several New Year's Eve events were cancelled for safety reasons and weather forecasters warned that the gales could continue for the next few days.

The teenager was crushed to death when the 60ft beech tree fell on to the caravan at Hales Hall caravan site in Cheadle, Staffordshire. She had been visiting two teenage friends to wish them a happy New Year. Miss Smith died instantly.

In a brief but touching statement released by the county's police force, the teenager's parents, Alan and Audrey Smith, spoke of their loss.

The couple, from Weston Coyney, Stoke-on-Trent, said: "Rebecca is and always will be a much-loved and cherished young lady by all her family and close friends.

"In the years to come the space she leaves in our lives can never be replaced. She will be loved forever."

Police said a youth aged 19 and a girl aged 18 had a 'miraculous escape', receiving only minor injuries.

They had been in another part of the 30ft-long caravan when it was hit by the tree, which weighed an estimated 30 tons.

A rescue worker described the caravan as 'little more than matchwood' after the accident saying: "It was crushed so flat that it was unrecognisable.

"The accident happened at 5am on Saturday at the height of a storm which left a trail of uprooted trees and floods in the area."

An ambulance spokesman described how paramedics rescued the survivors after spotting a hand moving in the wreckage.

He said: "They got inside what was left of the caravan and saw a woman's hand. It was moving so they knew at least one person was alive."

The rescue workers risked being crushed themselves by damaged branches as they battled for six hours underneath the tree to rescue the two youngsters, who were taken to nearby University Hospital of North Staffordshire.

Meanwhile, a Marine Accident investigation was continuing after four American sailors wearing lifelines were swept off the deck of a nuclear submarine and dragged along in its wake.

Two died in the tragedy, which happened on Friday when they were hit by 20ft waves as the 6,000-ton USS Minneapolis-St-Paul crossed Plymouth Sound.

After a dramatic rescue by British sailors on a pilot boat and two launches, the two survivors were rushed to nearby Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. They were later discharged after treatment.

The fourth person to die was a Polish man who was crushed to death when a tunnel collapsed at the Blue Circle Cement Works in Northfleet, Kent, yesterday.

He was carrying out routine maintenance with three other men when a large piece of concrete fell on them. The three men were seriously injured but were in a stable condition in hospital.